


By the Beating of This Heart

by YurikoNeko (AlaxxisSade)



Category: Kyou Kara Maou!
Genre: Family Feels, Feels, Future Fic, M/M, Marriage, Sad Ending, lots of feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 21:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7547326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlaxxisSade/pseuds/YurikoNeko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a long time since you left. Hey, how are you over there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	By the Beating of This Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Continuing with the Midwinter 'fifty years later' thing, lol.

It’s been fifty years since Yuuri left.

                “Wolf, what’s the matter?”

                I quickly take my hand off my chest, trying to ignore the tightness and annoyed that I showed it on the surface. “It’s nothing.”

                “You should rest,” Lord von Christ says. “You’ve been at it for hours, you know. Do you even remember missing lunch?”

                I did? I frown, and shake it off. “Either way, I have to get this done by today, so I can’t rest yet.”

                “All of this? That’s impossible! And besides, no one’s asking you to work this hard.”

                I don’t need anyone to ask me to, I’m doing this for myself. Günter has gotten even more long-winded over the years, so I change the subject,

                “Have you seen Conrad today?”

                “Lord Weller? I think the guards say he left the palace early this morning… I see.” There is a pause. “After all these years, he still visits that person.”

                “If only he could get over the guilt he still keeps inside.” I sigh. “I trust he didn’t go alone?”

                “Of course not. As per His Majesty Yuuri’s orders, Gurrier is always by his side.”

                It was all Yuuri could think of to keep Conrad safe after he left. I’m just surprised Josak is still taking his orders so seriously.

                No, on second thought, I’m not surprised. Josak has always been unfailing loyal to a good leader, one that he recognizes.

                “Do you miss him, Wolfram?”

                I turn back down to the documents. Conrad won’t be back before sundown, and I intend to meet him there, so I have to get my work done quickly. Once I look down, however, the sunlight streaming in through the large windows glints off the plain ring on my finger.

 

_“Wolf, let’s get married.”_

_“Huh? Why so sudden? We still haven’t solved—”_

_“You don’t want to?”_

_“…You know my answer.”_

A lot has happened in the past fifty years. Gwendal and Anissina finally got married, and even have a kid now. Dacascos is now a Captain of the palace guard. Mother married two more times. Gisela got engaged recently, too. Günter is still staying with me in Blood Pledge Castle.

                Greta is a grandma now, which makes me a great-grandfather.

                And on this day, every year, Conrad comes here to make a status report.

                “…be honest, I’m a bit worried for Wolf. He’s working too hard, and you know, that heart of his, ever since you—” His words cut off abruptly, and then I hear my Little Big Brother sigh. “He misses you, Yuuri.”

                I walk up to them silently, and place my flowers down on the large black marble grave, those foreign words I know so well carved and embossed in bright gold.

 

_“Everyone, let’s put an end to this.”_

_Shinou was gone, which meant the seals on the soushu were close to breaking. My fiancé—my husband and always my king, Yuuri looked more regal than ever in his determination._

_“Let’s destroy all the Boxes.” A pause. He met my eyes head-on. “Let’s destroy the Keys.”_

“Did Greta come by earlier?”

                There is another bundle of flowers next to mine and Conrad’s. White lilies, which Yuuri once mentioned sounded a lot like his name.

                “In the morning, but she couldn’t stay long.” Conrad looks at me quietly. “She wishes she could have seen you.”

                “I’ll go see her one of these days.” But both of us know it is getting harder and harder every year. Back when Yuuri and I first adopted a human girl as our daughter, we never thought that it would hurt us so much to watch her age before our eyes like this.

                Hurt me. My eyes.

                “Yuuri, you wimp. How could you leave me behind to take on the entire burden like this?”

 

_Conrad’s arm was the first to go. It disintegrated, starting from the fingers and ending at the shoulders, leaving not a trace behind. It surely hurt, but afterwards he simply held his stump and looked at us in despair._

_As the ‘End of the Earth’ glowed brightly, and Gwendal covered the left side of his face with his large hand, Yuuri looked at me with a sad, sad smile._

_“Stop looking at me like that.” I took his hand in mine, lacing our fingers tightly. “Wherever you go, I’m going with you.”_

_A tear ran down his cheek, even as he smiled so brightly it hurt to watch. “Thank you, Wolf.”_

_The pain was like a fist around my heart. The moment my Box started glowing, ice began to envelop my body, starting from Yuuri’s touch._

_I hate how fast it took away his warmth._

When I woke up, he was gone.

                I shouldn’t have woken up. I should have gone with him.

                But even as I said that, even as I screamed that, I knew inside that it was impossible. Even if my heart was taken, my soul couldn’t reach where Yuuri’s has gone.

                Yuuri’s was gone.

                I shouldn’t have lived. I didn’t want to. But Yuuri wanted me to.

                _“Be glad one of the previous owners of my soul was a doctor.”_ Murata never once smiled after Yuuri left.

                I find myself staring at Conrad’s empty sleeve. Gwen is still wearing an eyepatch, even though Anissina is experimenting with prosthetics. And me—

                I clutch my chest tightly.

                “Wolf! What’s wrong, does it hurt?”

                In the corner of my eye, I see Conrad panicking, and Josak calming him down with a shake of his head. He knows what I need now is quiet. Quiet enough to see hear my heartbeat.

                I received Yuuri’s heart.

                It’s not fair. Why am I the only one to get a replacement? Wasn’t this the sacrifice we all agreed to make? Why am I the only to get off?

                No one had ever seen anything like this in Shin Makoku, so everyone is always paranoid whenever I show any sign of pain. I feel like yelling at them sometimes—what the hell are you worried about? Yuuri’s heart is so goddamn healthy. Of course it is, he lived the healthiest lifestyle of anyone I have ever seen.

                But Yuuri, why bother so much? What’s the point of such a healthy body if you died before you could even use it?

                What’s the point if you don’t even leave us a body to mourn?

 

_“You know, I wanted to follow Shibuya. I really did.”_

_Murata looked at him, in his coffin of glass, like Günter and Gurrier before him. But unlike them, he really, truly, wasn’t going to wake up._

_“Now that that man is gone, the curse on my soul has lifted. After I die, the next person born won’t remember anything. So I thought, why don’t I  end it all right now?_

_“But then I remembered my family back on Earth, Murata Ken’s family. And I remembered that the Shibuya family needed someone to bring him back to them.”_

It was something we soldiers are more than used to. But just that time, we had to hand the duty over to Murata, merely an advisor who never had to fight at the frontlines.

                Just because he didn’t fight doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand the pain of bringing back bad news.

                I wonder how Yuuri’s parents felt when they saw his body. There wasn’t a mark on him. He really did look like he was sleeping, and having some very pleasant dreams as well. But there was no denying that he was gone. Not just dead, but gone.

                I wonder if they noticed the ring on his finger. I wonder if they took it off.

                If they didn’t—was there any way I could find him, afterwards?

                “Yuuri… Happy birthday.”

                Conrad lowered his head, and Josak put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Those were Yuuri’s last instructions to Josak—take care of Conrad. In those last few days leading up to the final battle, he had made all the arrangements he could, with Murata’s help, to lessen the impact of his death. He knew we would grieve, but he didn’t want us to mourn.

                No one said anything, but everyone was ready for it. Everyone but me, because I was so sure I would be going with him.

                The people celebrate the day of his death, you know. They celebrate it as the day the 27th Maou became a hero, and destroyed the danger that had been looming over the world once and for all. On that day, there is a festival, with parades and parties. Conrad remembers the Japanese word for it, so it’s called the annual Matsuri.

                Yuuri would like that, I suppose. He would be shocked that anyone would worship him, and then get so goddamn self-conscious about it, even though he would be secretly proud as hell.

                But what’s the point if he’s not here to see it? I can’t be so selfless. I can’t laugh and play and enjoy the day my husband died, even if he died nobly. Neither could Conrad, I suppose. That’s why we come here, quietly, on his birthday, the day the rest of the country has already forgotten.

                “Hey, Yuuri…”

                The sun is setting. Josak already knocked Conrad out and dragged him away, the smart man. Now I’m alone on the warm black marble, curling up like I did on those precious few nights I had with him after the wedding, as partners as well as true lovers.

                I will never find a love like that again.

                “Hey, Yuuri, can you hear me?”

                That day your soul vanished, you took my heart with you, didn’t you? Take care of it, and I’ll take care of yours.

                Günter and Conrad were right, I really am tired. As my eyes fall slowly to a close, I can feel the pounding of the heart in my chest. It still hurts, it hurts every day, but the heartbeat is strong as ever, warm and rhythmic, telling me—no, forcing me to live on.

                “Yuuri, you really are too cruel, going away to a place I can’t reach...”

                But I fall asleep on the empty grave, to the sound of Yuuri’s heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Just wondering, who here figured out Yuuri was dead from the first sentence? :)
> 
> So my alternate name for this was Bad End Night, lol, the worst ending I could think of. And then the idea stuck with me so deeply that for the next few days, I was in this dark sluggish state, almost feeling like Yuuri was dead even as I translated the novels TAT Ah, but I kinda like this, hehe. This is the S in me...


End file.
